Apethorpe Hall

Apethorpe Palace, formerly known as "Apethorpe Hall", is a Grade I listed country house, dating to the 15th century, close to Apethorpe, Northamptonshire. It was a "favourite royal residence" for James I. After restoration by English Heritage the house was sold in 2015 to Jean Christophe Iseux von Pfetten as his "private residence", under an arrangement where it is "open during July and August for pre-booked tours only", these managed by English Heritage. The house is acknowledged as one of the finest remaining examples of a Jacobean stately home and one of Britain's ten best palaces. It holds a particular importance due to its ownership by, and role in entertaining, Tudor and Stuart monarchs; Elizabeth I inherited the estate from her father Henry VIII and her successor, James I, personally contributed to its 1622 extension, housing the state rooms and featuring some of the most important surviving plasterwork and fireplaces of the period. There were at least thirteen extended royal visits – more than to any other house in the county – between 1566 and 1636, and it was at Apethorpe, in August 1614, that King James met his favourite and speculated lover, George Villiers, later to become Duke of Buckingham. A series of court masques written by Ben Jonson for James I were performed while the King was in residence at Apethorpe. The house was also lived in regularly by Charles I.